Drawer stack and means for efficiently supporting the drawers thereof

ABSTRACT

A stack of molded plastic drawers each having side rails integral therewith and containing at least one groove on a horizontal rail face is mounted between upright supports having arrays of rail engaging members adapted to contact both the upper and lower faces of the rails. The drawers and the supports provide a kit suitable for converting conventional single-drawer storage cabinets into cabinets fully equipped with a drawer stack.

United States Patent Louis E. Himelreich Louisville, Ky.

Feb. 10, 1969 June 15, 1971 H. J. Schelrich Company Louisville, Ky.

[72] lnventor [21 Appl. No. [22] Filed [45] Patented [73] Assignee [54] DRAWER STACK AND MEANS FOR EFFICIENTLY SUPPORTING THE DRAWERS THEREOF 3 Claimsfl Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 312/343, 312/330 [51] Int. Cl A47b 88/14 [50] Field otSearcli 312/330,

341, 343, 344, 346, 347, 350; 308/136; 21 Ill 5 1, 94

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,341,922 6/1920 Martin"... 312/343X 1,940,877 12/1933 Ochse... 312/343X 3,181,924 5/1965 Guth 312/330 3,416,850 12/1968 Hilfinger et al. 312/341X Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay Assistant Examinerl eter A. Aschenbrenner Attorney-Wi1liam E. Sherwood ABSTRACT: A stack of molded plasticdrawers each having side rails integral therewith and containing at least one groove on a horizontal rail face is mounted between upright supports having arrays of rail engaging members adapted to contact both the upper and lower faces of the rails. The drawers and the supports provide a kit suitable for converting conventional single-drawer storage cabinets into cabinets fully equipped with a drawer stack.

PATENTEU JUN] 5197:

SHEET 1 BF 2 V ///F r I INVENTOR LOUtS E. HLMELREKZ'H ATTORNEY PATENTEUJUHISIHYI 3584825 sum 2 0F 2 INVENTOR LOU \S E. HlMELREKCH BY W DRAWER STACK AND MEANS FOR EFFICIENTLY SUPPORTING THE DRAWERS THEREOF BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The manufacture of cabinets, and particularly drawerequipped kitchen cabinets, requires careful carpentry work and fitting of drawers. Not only should the drawers be as capacious as possible, but also they should move with a minimum of friction without sidewise play or vertical tipping and at the same time be capable of being withdrawn to at least 60 percent of their overall length. When working with wooden cabinets using the known forms of wooden supporting guides for the drawers, not only close manufacturing tolerances must be observed, but also the matter of warpage, swelling, or contraction of the wooden elements must be taken into account. Even when nonwooden drawers and nonwooden cabinets are being assembled the mounting of the drawers in the cabinets require careful fitting of each drawer with attendant increase in labor costs.

In general, the manufacturer of kitchen cabinets is required to have two inventories of cabinet structure when offering both cabinets having a stack of drawers and cabinets have doors and shelves and with a single top drawer. A requirement therefore exists for a kit of parts which will enable such a manufacturer to have a single inventory of basic cabinets of the second type and which can be modified by use of such kit and elimination of door and shelves to produce cabinets of the first type.

SUMMARY The invention includes a stack of drawers adapted either for separate usage or for incorporation into a basic cabinet structure. A pair of parallel upright supports mount a plurality of drawers therebetween and without midrails between adjacent drawers at their fronts thus to utilize a maximum depth of drawer for a given height of support. Each drawer has a pair of side rails with a groove on at least one of its horizontal faces and with first and second arrays of rail-engaging members, preferably rollers, engaging the respective rails of the drawer and supporting the same upon the upright supports. Each array comprises a forward pair of such members and a rearward pair of such members suitably spaced with a predetermined distance between the members of the forward and rearward pairs so that the members of an array will span not more than 40 percent and not less than percent of the length of the rail with which they are engaged.

Among the objects of the invention are the provision of a plurality of drawers and associated functioning structure adapted to serve as a kit in converting a basic cabinet structure into a cabinet having a stack of drawers; the provision of a stack of drawers having an improved mounting of the drawers upon their supporting structure; and the provision of an improved plastic drawer having side rails adapted to engage with a supporting member and requiring a minimum of fitting work during assembly into operating position.

These and other objectives of the invention will become more apparent as the description proceeds and when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view with portions broken away of a conventional single drawer cabinet equipped with the drawer stack of the present invention, and with an intermediate drawer removed.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view with parts broken away of the cabinet of FIG. 1 and with all of the drawers removed.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view through one of the supports and taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. Sis a plan view ofone of the drawers of the stack.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of FIG. 5 and showing one form of stop, and

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view to a larger scale, showing the operative mounting of the sides of a drawer on the arrays of rail-engaging members and with one of the members being shown in section.

Referring now to FIGS. I to 3, a conventional one-drawer cabinet employing a basic cabinet structure modified with a kit comprising the drawer stack in accordance with the invention normally includes a top drawer having a drawer body 10 attached to a drawer front I1 and which drawer is supported in any suitable manner as by means of an overhead drawer guide 12 engaged by a roller I3 mounted at the rear of the drawer body. Drawers mounted in this manner have the advantage of an opening travel of about percent of the length of the drawer, but are more expensive, and a support for each end of the drawer guide is required with concomitant increase in carpentry work when more than one such drawer is employed in a cabinet. In cabinets of this type, a front framing including stiles 14, I5 and upper, mid, and lower rails I6, 17 and 18 are employed, the stiles serving as a means for mounting one or more closures, such as doors for closing of the storage space beneath the drawer. Cabinet sidewalls I9, 20, rear wall 21, top 22, and bottom 23 disposed above the floor by a front toe panel 24 complete the enclosure and in their assembly normally require considerable work and necessitate the adherence to small manufacturing tolerances when such a cabinet is intended to enclose a drawer stack.

In accordance with the invention the thus described basic cabinet may be equipped with a plurality of molded plastic drawers of the type disclosed in my copending application, Ser. No. 784,437, filed Dec. 17, 1968. As seen in FIGS. 5 and 7, each such drawer comprises a bottom 30 integrally formed with a backwall 31 and sidewalls 32, 33. Parallel longitudinal side rails 34, 35 located below the upper edges of the sidewalls are integrally molded with those sidewalls and with a reinforcing beam 36 extending transversely of the backwall. A detachable drawer front 37 serves as a front wall of the drawer. In this modification, each of the side rails is formed in their horizontal faces with upper and lower grooves 38, 39 and 40, 41 respectively and with one of the lower grooves, for example groove 38, having only a slight lateral clearance, for example about one thirty-second inch, with the rail engaging member associated therewith, and all for a purpose later to be described.

For mounting of the stack of drawers in the cabinet a pair of parallel upright supports 44, 45, which for example may be a composition material, are affixed to the cabinet structure with their exposed faces being substantially flush with the inner edges of stiles I4, 15; such supports being located at the front of the cabinet and having a width preferably no greater than is required to mount the arrays of rail-engaging members. As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a typical left-hand array comprises a forward pair of friction reducing members, such as rollers 50, 51 spaced vertically from each other and a rearward pair of similar rollers, 52, 53, spaced vertically from each other at the same spacing as the rollers of the forward pair. The rearward pair, moreover, is spaced horizontally from the forward pair to provide a prescribed rail-spanning length, later to be described. A complementary right-hand array of four rollers, of which 54, 55 are shown, is similarly spaced.

Referring now to FIG. 7 showing a preferred use of the invention, each of the rollers comprises a plastic material having a bushing portion 56 adapted to rotate upon a generally cylindrical pin portion 57. The outer end of the pin portion includes a flange 58 seated within a recess found in the face of the roller and a separate washer 59 is interposed between the inner end of the bushing and the wall of the support member in which the roller is to be embedded. Conveniently, the mounting of the roller may comprise forcing the roller assembly axially into an undersized hole formed in member 44, for example after drilling that hole through a template, and the roller is formed with a circular peripheral face 60 adapted to contact the surface of the corresponding horizontal face of the drawer and with this peripheral face merging into beveled faces 61, 62. When such a roller is located at the position of roller 51 and is to contact with a groove in the rail its beveled faces may then contact corresponding beveled faces 63, 64 as shown in the lower groove 38.

As indicated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the beam 36 is provided with apertures adjacent the junctions of that beam and the side rails 34, 35 and into these apertures a pair of movement-limiting stops 70, 71 are detachably secured. Each of these stops may comprise a central portion 72 having legs 73, 74 at its ends and a depending central post 75 which fits into the aperture in the beam. Accordingly, leg 73 may rest on the top of beam 36 while the companion leg 74 extends into one of the rails such as rail 34 as shown in H6. 6. The presence of the legs of the stops in the side rails of the drawers thus provides stops which engage with the topmost rear roller of the two arrays when the drawer is withdrawn to its full extent of travel.

Considering now a typical drawer mounted as shown in FIG. 3 and assuming a loading of its contents represented by the force F, when the drawer is fully closed it is then supported by its rails 34, 35 fulcrummed about left-hand roller 53 and its corresponding roller in the right-hand array and with the upper grooves 39, 41 of its rails in contact with rollers 50 and Experience has shown that when drilling the holes in supports 44, 45 for reception of the rollers a predetermined distance between the axes of the forward and rearward pair of holes in each array must be employed and which will result in easy movement of the drawer and without binding ofa heavily loaded drawer under the influence of force F. At the same time this distance must accommodate a satisfactory length of opening movement of the drawer. Moreover, the wider the supports 44, 45in order to space the axes of these pairs of holes apart, the more will be the amount of material in and expense of such supports. Accordingly, the invention contemplates that the length of rails spanned between engaging rollers in each array under this described condition will not be more than 40 percent of the length of such rails and preferably less, but with a minimum of percent of the length of such rails being so spanned, Moreover, the rollers are so mounted that only a slight clearance, for example about one thirtysecond inch, is provided at any time between the peripheral face 60 of either the upper or lower rollers of any pair and the rail web interposed therebetween. Vertical tipping ofa drawer along its longitudinal axis accordingly is substantially eliminated at all positions of movement of the drawer.

As the drawer is withdrawn, the narrower groove, for example groove 38 in rail 35, serves by its engagement with rollers 51, 53 to eliminate substantially any transverse play of such drawer. Ofeven more importance, however, the greater width of a groove or grooves in the other rail of the same drawer, for example grooves 40 and 41, serves to permit liberal manufacturing tolerances in the construction of the basic cabinet structure and to eliminate time-consuming fitting of a particular drawer to a particular support member. This advantage results from the fact that the four rollers of the companion array on the other support 45 engage in the wider grooves 40, 41 and will operate even when their beveled faces are out of contact with the beveled faces of those wider grooves.

When the drawer is fully withdrawn, the stops 70, 71 engage against the topmost rear rollers in each array and the drawer is then fulcrummed by its rails 34, 35 about lower rollers 51, 55 and with the upper grooves 39, 41 of those rails in contact with upper roller 52 and its companion roller of the other array. At this time the drawer will be opened at least 60 percent ofits length and not more than 85 percent of that length. lfit is desired to withdraw the drawer completely, one can reach inside the drawer and lift the two stops 70,71 from their engagement with the rear beam ofthe drawer.

Although the form of rails shown in H0. 7 and comprising dual grooves in each rail constitutes a preferred embodiment lower faces of both rails, may be em lo ed.

With the foregoing in mind, the exibility of the invention will now be apparent to those skilled in the art of cabinet making. A standard cabinet with top, sidewalls, rear wall, bottom and front framing may be provided and modified as desired. For example, if shelving and doors, but with no drawers in the cabinet, are required, the present invention would not be employed. If such a standard cabinet is to be equipped with a conventional top drawer 10, a midrail 17 assisting in the mounting of the drawer 10 would normally be employed. However, if the standard cabinet is to be equipped with a drawer stack, all that is required is the provision of a kit comprising uprights 44, 45, with the arrays of rail-engaging members already in place, and the provision of the corresponding number of rail-equipped drawers. Since no crossrails between stiles 14, 15 are needed for use with the drawer stack, the depth of drawers used in that stack can be greater than the case in which such rails are employed,

In view of the above disclosure it will be noted that the several objectives of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results obtained.

What 1 claim is:

1. A stack of drawers comprising a plurality of independently movable drawers in superposed relation and including a pair of parallel upright supports spaced laterally from each other for mounting the drawers therebetween, said drawers having longitudinal parallel side rails attached thereto, each rail having a groove on each of its upper and lower horizontal faces, a plurality of first and second arrays of rail-engaging members projecting respectively from said supports and mounting a single drawer between each first and each second array, each of said members comprising a roller rotatably mounted upon a pin fastened in a support member and projecting normally therefrom and with the roller portion being engaged in the corresponding groove in the rail ofthe coacting drawer, each of said arrays comprising a forward pair of said members with individual members spaced vertically from the other and a rearward pair of said members with each member spaced vertically from the other, said pairs of members within each array being spaced horizontally from each other at a predetermined distance and mounted upon one of said supports, the upper member in each pair being adapted to engage one horizontal face of the corresponding rail of the drawer and the lower member in each pair being adapted to engage the other horizontal face of the corresponding rail of the drawer and with at least two members in each array being engageable respectively in an upper groove and in a lower groove of the corresponding rail, said predetermined distance being not more than 40 percent and not less than 15 percent of the length of the rails of the drawer.

2. A stack of drawers as defined in claim 1 wherein the grooves in one of the side rails of each drawer are narrower then the corresponding grooves in the opposite side rail of the same drawer and the narrower grooves for all drawers are adjacent the same upright support, the corresponding rail-engaging members in the arrays associated with said narrower grooves substantially eliminating transverse movement of the drawer during its movement and whereby greater manufacturing tolerances in construction of said stack may be permitted due to the greater lateral space in the wider grooves ofsaid opposite side rail of the drawer available for positioning of the rail-engaging members of the arrays mounted on the opposite support.

3. A stack of drawers as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said drawers includes a stop-member mounted adjacent the rear wall of the drawer and adapted to abut against a rail-engaging member when the drawer is fully withdrawn. 

1. A stack of drawers comprising a plurality of independently movable drawers in superposed relation and including a pair of parallel upright supports spaced laterally from each other for mounting the drawers therebetween, said drawers having longitudinal parallel side rails attached thereto, each rail having a groove on each of its upper and lower horizontal faces, a plurality of first and second arrays of rail-engaging members projecting respectively from said supports and mounting a single drawer between each first and each second array, each of said members comprising a roller rotatably mounted upon a pin fastened in a support member and projecting normally therefrom and with the roller portion being engaged in the corresponding groove in the rail of the coacting drawer, each of said arrays comprising a forward pair of said members with individual members spaced vertically from the other and a rearward pair of said members with each member spaced vertically from the other, said pairs of members within each array being spaced horizontally from each other at a predetermined distance and mounted upon one of said supports, the upper member in each pair being adapted to engage one horizontal face of the corresponding rail of the drawer and the lower member in each pair being adapted to engage the other horizontal face of the corresponding rail of the drawer and with at least two members in each array being engageable respectively in an upper groove and in a lower groove of the corresponding rail, said predetermined distance being not more than 40 percent and not less than 15 percent of the length of the rails of the drawer.
 2. A stack of drawers as defined in claim 1 wherein the grooves in one of the side rails of each drawer are narrower then the corresponding grooves in the opposite side rail of the same drawer and the narrower grooves for all drawers are adjacent the same upright support, the corresponding rail-engaging members in the arrays associated with said narrower grooves substantially eliminating transverse movement of the drawer during its movement and whereby greater manufacturing tolerances in construction of said stack may be permitted due to the greater lateral space in the wider grooves of said opposite side rail of the drawer available for positioning of the rail-engaging members of the arrays mounted on the opposite support.
 3. A stack of drawers as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said drawers includes a stop-member mounted adjacent the rear wall of the drawer and adapted to abut against a rail-engaging member when the drawer is fully withdrawn. 